1. Dan and I went to a Halloween party at our neighbor’s house a few weekends ago, and I stayed up until almost midnight! And had a drink! Some sort of caramel apple liquor punch with apple chunks in it, so it was even vaguely healthy (just go with it). This was probably my most favorite costume ever, mostly because I got to play with makeup and buy gold heels.

Dan was less than excited about the pictures. And the costume. He likes Halloween, but only when OTHER people dress up. He’d be happy to go as Regular Guy From Across The Street Whose Wife Dragged Him To The Party Because She’s Desperate For Grownup Interaction. He’s a good sport.

The girls walked like an Egyptian with me.

2. Hey! The girls and I went to Florida last week! I kept it quiet until we were on our way because we were trying to surprise my grandma for her 75th birthday. And it worked perfectly.

Dan and Zach stayed home because unless it’s absolutely necessary? I’m not taking a 7 month old on an airplane. The girls are both past the age of needing All The Things, so other than hauling Audrey’s carseat through the airport and shoving Maggie’s booster in my suitcase? It was pretty straightforward. My mom, my sister, and my nephew came along too, so we rented a minivan and got two hotel rooms and spent 5 days visiting with family we haven’t seen in years. (a crapton more pictures are on Flickr!)

Waiting nearly an hour for our car rental. Ridiculous. Maggie still in her pjs. Millions of suitcases.

Big fans of Hotel Living

The girls found a new BFF.

Our Pop works at a train model museum and he took us all there to see it. The girls were blown away and honestly I was too! I didn’t know what to expect, but it was very cool. If you have kids who like trains and live in the Odessa, FL area? GO.

I had way too much fun taking pictures.

Watching a parade

My aunt’s house. Apparently everyone in Florida hates the moss on the trees, but man, it’s so pretty!

Keeping one eye on the dogs at all times

Swimming! In November!

The whole family. Six of Nana’s seven kids together for the first time since I was in high school. Four of them were surprise visits this trip.

We ate at Tijuana Flats twice and the girls got tattoos. Yay, vacation!

We came home from 80 degrees to dropping temperatures and snow. Boo.

3. Zach is 7 months old (okay so now he’s 7.5 months old because I’m late on this.)

He’s pulling himself to stand on everything he sees- including his crib, which needs to be lowered, like… yesterday. He’s learned that there’s a house to crawl around in beyond the playroom. He’s also trying to figure out cruising and if he’s not walking by February, I’ll eat my hat.

4. Christmas is in like… not that many weeks, and I still have Halloween decorations to take down and put away. But! I have Santa Shopping about 75% done (all hail, Amazon Prime!) and I’m hosting a cookie swap at my house in a couple of weeks, so I clearly have things prioritized properly.

5. I launched a redesign of Dress My Blog on Friday! I’d been working on it for a few weeks while I was in between a few projects and I’m SO HAPPY to have it out there. It was kind of a stagnant project for a while, but I’m hoping to start focusing a bit more on blog design projects. I also have some other plans for the site down the road involving downloadable themes and things like that… now if only I could clone myself so I can have time to do it all! heh. But hey, if you’re looking for someone to work on your blog, let me know. It’s my favorite thing.

6. No vacation goes unpunished, so of course I got a cold this week. Thanks, Gross Airplane Passengers! But I got to take the fun medicine this time since I’m not pregnant or breastfeeding so WOOHOO! My voice still sounds like sandpaper, but I feel a lot better today.